Introduction To compete with rival products at the retail level, FMCG companies inevitably run frequent consumer promotions. As a result, the use of posters—as the ground-level carrier and disseminator of promotional information—becomes very important. Many companies and distributors often complain: "How is it that we distributed nearly 2,000 posters in such a small county, yet they are barely visible at retail? Why do competitors' posters remain so prominently displayed? And why are mom-and-pop store owners so reluctant to put our posters on their storefronts? It's really strange!" Today, I'd like to share eight pieces of advice on poster promotions, hoping to give you some inspiration.

NO.1: In mature markets, pursue coverage density; in semi-mature (underdeveloped) markets, pursue coverage effectiveness. This is the overarching principle for poster placement. In mature markets, retail outlets are densely developed and relatively balanced within the region. The company's product awareness, brand reputation, and customer loyalty have a relatively solid foundation. In such areas, when consumers see a promotional poster, they basically recognize it as a promotional poster from a certain company (and then learn the details). Therefore, it is not advisable to use a saturation bombing tactic in these markets. However, it is important to ensure that the density of poster placement is reasonably distributed, with dynamic balance in coverage density to achieve the desired visibility rate. In semi-mature (underdeveloped) markets, due to the uneven development of retail outlets, poster placement should be selective and targeted. That is, in areas with dense outlets and good consumer base, posters should be densely placed, implementing a localized saturation bombing tactic, because the majority of sales in such markets come from these outlet clusters. For scattered or undeveloped areas, they are basically not considered, because if the product is not on the shelves, consumers seeing the poster may think the company is engaging in consumer fraud. Such a counterproductive result is something no company spending heavily on promotions wants to see.

NO.2: Prefer left over right; don't avoid key stores. What does "prefer left over right" mean? It means that when posting posters, if you encounter symmetrical posting units like store doors, try to place the poster on the left side of the symmetrical object. There are two reasons:

  1. People's reading and browsing habits are from left to right; the left eye has higher attention than the right eye, and the left side has better visual reception than the right. Therefore, the left side is the first choice.
  2. Most people are right-handed, so when posters are placed in a symmetrical area, the right side is more likely to be torn or damaged. From the probability of damage, the natural damage rate on the right side is higher. What does "don't avoid key stores" mean? Many market promotion specialists have a misconception that in KA stores, key stores, and flagship stores, poster placement only needs basic coverage. Their reasoning is that these key stores already have significant sales advantages, and even without promotional activities, they can achieve absolute sales. Therefore, promotional posters in such stores are mainly for notification, not requiring much effort. However, this is not the case. The fundamental purpose of poster placement in key stores is to establish a strong brand image and compete with competitors in the brand concentration camp—the key store cluster—for consumer mindshare. Whoever occupies the first tier of consumer mindshare gains the initiative in brand consumption. In short, poster placement in key stores is about competing for brand image, not just disseminating promotional information. Therefore, in key stores, more attention should be paid to the attractiveness of the copy, cleanliness of the layout, aesthetic design, coordination with supermarket promotion schedules, and maintenance of the posters. This is what "don't avoid key stores" means.

NO.3: The strong dragon should suppress the local snake. As the saying goes, "The strong dragon does not suppress the local snake," meaning that even the most valiant outsider must yield to local forces because they have local connections and power backgrounds that cannot be easily provoked. However, terminal promotions among companies are often tit-for-tat and face-to-face. Even when intercepting local strong brands at the retail level, one must not yield an inch. Whether in the quantity of posters, coverage area, or poster design, one must think beyond what the "local snake" dares to think, seize every opportunity, and pursue relentlessly, delivering an interceptive blow to local strong competitors. Why should "the strong dragon suppress the local snake"? There are two reasons:

  1. Relatively speaking, local strong competitors have advantages in HR, logistics, PR, and other aspects. The survival space and development profits of our product in the local market are often squeezed to the point of being cornered. In such a situation, if we cannot give a powerful counterattack to local strong competitors, our situation will become even more difficult, easily falling into a vicious cycle.
  2. As stated above, because our product is at a disadvantage in overall costs, when operating large-scale, high-intensity SP promotional activities, we have higher expectations for success. This determines that as a promotional resource, poster placement must emphasize coverage rate and fullness. Even if it means engaging in a war of attrition with local strong brands at the retail level, it is worth it.

NO.4: Avoid only "posting" without "speaking." Many promotion specialists suffer from professional psychological imbalance, thinking that posting posters is the simplest and most mindless job in sales. They often post posters at lightning speed in retail stores and then leave without a word—this is what is meant by only "posting" without "speaking." Market promotion personnel themselves are a moving, talking poster. Why not take the opportunity during terminal visits to communicate promotional information with store owners? Moreover, retail stores often have many consumers. Taking this opportunity to communicate promotional information face-to-face with consumers would be faster and more direct than just posting posters. The problem is that our promotion personnel often overlook this, lacking the awareness of proactive communication and the skills to inspire and persuade. Therefore, they miss the multiplier effect of word-of-mouth. Sometimes, the poster is torn down or covered by the store owner or competitors immediately after posting. "Posting" is just one decomposed action to achieve results; "speaking" is the key technique to make the poster "come alive."

NO.5: Avoid only "posting" without "reposting." The fifth piece of advice: avoid only "posting" without "reposting." "Reposting" refers to re-checking posted posters and making supplementary or restorative re-posts. Most promotion personnel are aware of this, but they lack the techniques and methods. Specifically, the strategies for "reposting" include:

  1. Familiarize yourself with competitors' reposting times. Competitors are not easy to deal with when posting posters. It is very important to grasp the timing and patterns of competitors' reposting. Market promotion personnel need to communicate with sales points and thoroughly understand the situation before formulating a time-following strategy. That is, as soon as competitors leave, our market promotion personnel follow up with reposting. If you blindly set a fixed day for follow-up reposting, it is easy for competitors to find loopholes and exploit them.
  2. Try to cover rather than tear down. That is, try to cover competitors' posters with our own, rather than tearing them down. Tearing down can create an untidy appearance at the posting location, which will affect the effect of our poster. On the other hand, competitors may not necessarily see our product as a competitor when reposting; they might only post in non-related areas, which does not affect the effectiveness of our poster.

NO.6: Money makes the world go round; don't believe terminals don't love money. Why do some companies even face resentment or obstruction from store owners when posting posters? There is no major reason: when competitors post posters, they sign agreements with store owners that specify how much benefit the store owner will receive for a certain period (direct cash, returned goods, incorporated into store price, etc.), and also include conditions that no other related posters can compete for prime positions. Under the lure of benefits, store owners naturally are willing to maintain the condition of the posters. Clearly, whoever offers more benefits gets more maintenance from the store owner. Therefore, when posting posters in key CV store clusters, using agreements as constraints and offering more benefits than competitors (based on prior investigation) as bait will surely secure the best positions for our posters, and store owners will be obedient and willing to accept. However, one point to note: such policies should only be used in extraordinary times. As a distributor or manufacturer, you cannot rely solely on this single method to stimulate cooperation, as it is very likely to "spoil" the terminals, providing a ladder for them to push for more. Smart companies will set price limits or minimum monthly sales policies per store when operating such policies.

NO.7: If you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke. When companies engage in poster battles with competitors at the retail level, it is not necessary to be dominant every time and everywhere. There are three reasons: First: Industry-leading companies often have flawless terminal maintenance and promotional execution. Our product cannot compete with them in terms of manpower, systems, control, cost, or strategic planning. In such cases, the key point for poster placement is "if you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke." That is, without confidence in gaining a complete upper hand, do not easily cover or tear down posters of companies with top-tier operations and high visit frequencies. It is most important to act according to your capabilities. Our posters might be covered or torn down immediately after posting. Conversely, if we do not intercept them, we might avoid their tit-for-tat retaliation. Second: In situations where we can't afford to provoke, try to place our promotional posters adjacent to the industry leader's posters, seeking a bundling effect. Since we cannot compete with them in "reposting" frequency, it is better to prepare for "first come, first served." I'll post right next to you, but not cover you (if you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke). In consumers' visual reception, this may produce a grafting effect. This is often used by many FMCG companies in promotional execution. Third: "If you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke" is not contradictory to the earlier "the strong dragon should suppress the local snake." The earlier point is about counterattack tactics against local competitors' strong pressure; if you don't counterattack, you might suffer devastating blows. The premise of "if you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke" is that the competitor's terminal control capability is entirely above ours. No matter how we operate, we can't gain much advantage at the terminal. In that case, it is better to adopt a fallback strategy and seek development through detours. The first emphasizes counterattack tactics, the second emphasizes soft tactics. Different backgrounds require different strategies. Market promotion supervisors need to grasp this nuance when directing terminal execution.

NO.8: Carry a rag with you; don't learn from the dandy, learn from the beggar. "To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools." The rag mentioned here actually includes richer content, such as cutting scissors, rulers, tape, correction fluid, correction paper, and other necessary tools. "A rag" is a generic term, referring to the necessary auxiliary tools for poster posting. Why "carry a rag with you; don't learn from the dandy, learn from the beggar"? There are several reasons: First, when market promotion personnel are doing "reposting," sometimes the poster is only partially dirty, or sometimes it is impossible to cover it a second time, or it is impossible to peel off the poster and reuse it. We can use the rag to wipe off the dirty parts, without making a big fuss. This saves poster resources and work time, and is convenient and effective. Second, as market promotion personnel, we rarely have the chance to visit CV terminals. Why not use the opportunity of "reposting" posters to "wash the face" of our products on the shelves and tidy up the merchandise? Because besides brand, habits, price, and other factors, FMCG products largely compete on display area, product cleanliness, and product shelf life. As the saying goes, "a journey of a hundred miles is half completed at ninety." Many companies lose at the last "ten miles." Third, market promotion personnel who pay attention to details may notice that if you directly enter a CV store to tidy up your products, the store owner generally dislikes it, because tidying up will inevitably disrupt the display order of series products on the shelf (tidying often changes the positions of competitors' products, as CV stores have no SKU restrictions), and our product may not be the store owner's favorite. Therefore, he has no reason to absolutely support your messing with his shelf. But if you first wipe your products clean with a rag, using this "face-washing" action to divert the store owner's attention, and then take the opportunity to squeeze your product into a relatively superior position, the store owner's attention may not be fixed on the tidying but shift to the promotion personnel's action of cleaning the product. Of course, the market has no fixed patterns, and promotional execution also has no fixed patterns. The above eight pieces of advice are just an experience-based and technical perspective on one aspect of SP ground execution. In specific applications, market promotion leaders still need to arrange scientific P, D, C, A cycle execution plans according to market characteristics.

-END- Excerpt from "Terminal Visit Sales General Model" Scan the QR code below now, and listen to the course for only 9.9 yuan.